The Snow Storm
by Jonquille Theravada
Summary: AU: Veronica never gets together with Duncan and visits Wallace in Chicago. LoVe. Rated M for later chapters.
1. Chapter 1

It's snowing outside in Chicago. Snowing hard. Veronica and Wallace are tired in the way that only watching a storm can make you. He has projector that only plays DVDs (the poor man's "I have a TV in my room"), and slips in some action film from his dad's collection. They lay next to each other without even changing into pajamas, both still in their jeans. The snow makes the world outside seem bright and the projector flickers like a campfire. It's all relaxing, somehow, and they both fall asleep. His father notices the door closed and twists the knob, expecting to bust the two of them in the throes of something. He didn't before understand that they were just friends and smirks at the teenagers, who are both fully clothed and fully asleep.

She wakes Wallace up an hour later, discovering that their hands are clasped together. Their fingers aren't intertwined, it's like how children hold hands; like how best friends in a terrible blizzard hold hands.

"Logan just texted me," she whispers. She doesn't open the message, just stares at the tiny envelope on the screen of her flip-phone.

Wallace glances at their hands and releases his grip."Ignore him, V," He said, exhausted, and rolls over.

"Ignoring him is a full-time job," she answers, still frowning at her phone.

"Wanna check how many inches it's snowed so far? I'll show you my best snow angel," Wallace says. He's exhausted, but he hears the sadness in her voice. To Veronica, it's painfully clear that he's trying to take her mind off of the subject, so even though it's 11:00 at night and freezing outside, she agrees.

She's standing in 10 inches of snow as Wallace sticks his tongue out beside her to catch a flake.

"I don't like Logan," Wallace says, and looks at her carefully. He thinks that she's fickle on the subject and he never knows when she'll agree or disagree when it comes to the Echolls boy. She opens her mouth to answer when they both hear a voice from the street.

"Well, I like Wallace." It was Logan. He strolls up casually, as if he has every right in the world to be in Chicago on a Tuesday in December. Veronica's mouth has remained open, staring at him.

"What are you doing here?" Veronica asks, gaining her composure. She hates that his presence makes her slick; it was something he should never know.

"I was craving some deep-dish pizza," he answers, a smile hinting at his lips.

"What are you doing here?" Veronica repeats, her body reacting in a way that her voice does not betray.

"Okay, you caught me. I'm here to see Cloud Gate. Anish Kapoor is an asshole, but damn if he can't make one hell of a bean."

"I'm not letting you inside," she says, her voice level.

"Veronica! It's snowed an inch since we've been out here. We can't let your boy freeze to death out here," Wallace says.

"_He is not my boy_," she said, pointedly. "He can call a cab! _You're _the one who said you don't like him,"

Wallace is too good of a person. He nods at Logan and opens the door, letting him in. Wallace follows behind, and nods at an indignant Veronica to come with him. She rolls her eyes to herself and follows her best friend.


	2. Chapter 2

It's a small house with no real place to be alone. Logan notices this as he sits down at the foot of the bed in Wallace's room. Wallace puts a new DVD into his projector. He whispers to Veronica out of Logan's hearing range that he's there for her, and he'll make sure Logan doesn't pull anything on his watch. But it's late and as soon as he flops onto his bed, he starts snoring. Logan has been sunk at the foot of the bed for at least ten minutes. Veronica stands, guarded, in the corner of the room.

"You might be more comfortable if you sat down somewhere," Logan says over Wallace's snoring. He keeps glancing at her, and she hates the automatic physical reaction she gets whenever he looks at her.

She listens to Wallace's snoring, grounding herself in the sounds. She sinks next to Logan, defeated, looking at the images projected on the wall. She tries to ignore the wetness in her center, but when Logan brushes his hand against hers, her hair stands up on end, and her slickness increases.

"What are you doing here?" Veronica murmurs, her thigh now against his as they continue to watch the film.

He reaches over to kiss her temple. "I told you, it's for the pizza,"

Her physical feelings stopped right in their tracks. She remembers why she didn't want him to come inside in the first place. She jerks her thigh away, just an inch.

She scoots in front of him, as gracefully as she can for such an ungracious movement. She looks at him seriously.

"What," she says, "are you doing here?"

"You're a fucking PI," he answers. "Shouldn't you know?"

"Tell. Me," Veronica says, dangerously.

"I was hoping that the grand romantic gesture of showing up uninvited at your best friend's house 2,000 miles away would be enough to get you to come back to Neptune," Logan says, realizing only now how ill-thought-out his plan was. He looks down at his hands. "I love you."

Her physical feelings return. "No, you don't," she says steadily.

"Yes, I do," he says, equally as steadily. He ducks his head to crush his lips on Veronica's.


	3. Chapter 3

**Author's note: this chapter contains sex. If that bothers you, you can skip it. **

"Yes, I do," he says, equally as steadily. He ducks his head to crush his lips on Veronica's.

She hates herself for being so sexually responsive. He looks at her, she's wet. He smiles at her, her heart jumps. He kisses her, she moans. _Wait_, she thought, as she tries to stop the sounds coming from her throat. But he's on top of her, at the foot of the bed. His hands run underneath her shift and he hesitates, but she nods, giving him the go-ahead, and he pulls her shirt up and kisses one of her breasts. His mouth lowers and he bites her hip bone gently. She gasps, and his fingers slip into the waistband of her jeans. She allows it, and he's as quiet possible as he pulls down her jeans. Veronica has started to think it's funny. After all, a movie is playing at full blast right above them, and Wallace is deep asleep. How would anyone catch them?

He stops her giggles by pulling off her panties and kissing at her curls. She shudders as his mouth starts making kissing patterns up her stomach. She pushes his head back down and he looks up at her, both smug and admonishing. He begins to kiss her labia, teasingly. He wants her to shove his head again, and she won't give him the satisfaction. His tongue traces the inside of her thighs, touching anywhere but her most sensitive parts. He looks up at her, his mouth so close to her sex, all but begging her to force his head once more.

She pulls him up and kisses him, shifting her weight to one side so she can flip to be on top. She pulls down his boxers and mimics his exact movements. She kisses his cock and moves her lips up to his stomach, then down to his inner thighs. He doesn't push her head like she did; he's willing to wait. She frowns at this, hoping to have made him as crazy as he made her. She ups the ante and takes him in her mouth. She's never actually done this before and hopes she's doing it right, but Logan groans and she suspects that it doesn't really matter if she's good or not. She stops and moves up to kiss him, then continues up so she's straddling his face. She hears him chuckle.

"I'm not sure what you want, could you be clearer?" Logan asks, his voice muffled a little by her sex. She rolls her eyes and is about to dismount when he thrusts his tongue into her. She shifts down a little so that her clitoris is right over Logan's mouth. He pulls her off of him and lays her down, thrusting a finger into her before returning his mouth to the bundle of nerves. A moan starts from deep in her core, and erupts from her mouth at a surprisingly loud pitch. Logan claps his hand over mouth, grinning from ear to ear. He's all too pleased with himself. Once she's quiet, he returns to his work.

"Logan," she sobs, trying to keep her voice as hushed as possible. He picks up the pace and inserts a second finger, gently placing his teeth around her. He hums lightly, and the sensation sends her over the edge. She convulses under him as he tries to continue his movements through her wild bucking. When she has pulled back from the ether, he takes his fingers out of her and kisses her. She's still panting and accepts his mouth gratefully.

"Fuck me," she whispers, after he breaks the kiss. Her mind not quite processing what just happened.

"I could, but I think you might already be worn out," he whispers back, and kisses the top of her head. He hands her the shirt he'd pulled off of her earlier. "Do you have pajamas?"

"Duffle bag," she whispers, nodding at a bag on a chair in the corner of the room, then collapsing back down on the floor, exhausted. He stands, buttoning his pants back up and crossing the small room in two strides. He pulls out a pair of pajama pants and hands them to Veronica, who puts them on without standing up. He lays down next to her and holds her in his arms. She's asleep in under a minute.


	4. Chapter 4

Logan picks up Veronica and dumps her onto Wallace's bed. She doesn't stir at all, and he walks into the living room to crash on the couch.

Before he knows it, sunlight is hitting his eyes. It is the kind of brightness that can only happen after a snowstorm, when the sun reflects off the whiteness in the world. He grimaces and hears a clatter from the kitchen and two voices, one of them is decidedly not Wallace or Veronica. The voice says he'll be gone all day, helping to shovel the driveways of the neighbors', and the front door slams shut. He stands up and wanders over, taking a seat at the kitchen counter.

"Do you know how to pour your own cereal, or do you usually have a maid do it?" Wallace asks, pulling milk out of the refrigerator.

"I've tried before, but, alas, I can't get the hang of it. Does it go milk first, then bowl, then Cheerios?" Logan responds brightly. Wallace rolls his eyes and places a bowl in front of Logan. Loganis propped up on his elbows, his chin resting on his hands. Pleasantly, he notices that his fingers still smell like Veronica. He smirks to himself.

A noise behind him told him that Veronica has woken up. She shuffles into the kitchen, looking extremely disheveled. Logan's smirk deepens. He knows he was the reason for her appearance.

"You look bad, V," Wallace smiles.

"Aw, thanks, Wallace," she answers, taking the seat furthest away from Logan and reaching for the glass of juice that Wallace had poured for himself. Wallace frowns and gets himself a new glass.

"How late did you guys stay up after I passed out?"

"Oh," Logan says impishly, "Veronica didn't last even five minutes."

Veronica chokes at the double meaning of his words, coughing on her juice. Wallace looks suspiciously at the two of them but decides not to press the topic. The less he knows about what may or may not have transpired, the better.

"So, you'd probably better get going," Wallace says, walking to the front door and pulling it open, only to discover a wall of white up to his waist with a small path where his father had exited earlier. It was still snowing lightly, but the bulk of the snowfall seemed to have happened sometime after the three went to bed.

"Guess I'm stuck here," Logan answers. "Do you have Monopoly? Maybe Uno?"

"The snow plow will probably clear the roads soon enough," Wallace said, mostly to reassure himself. The thing he disliked most about Logan was that he was always _on_. Even Veronica dropped the private investigator thing once in a while, but Wallace never seemed to catch Logan not performing his snark schtick. And even as he thought about it, his neighborhood is low priority on the list of areas the city is likely to clear of snow. He turns on the local news to find out that the storm is supposed to pick back up in the afternoon.

"It's a miracle we didn't lose power last night," Wallace says to Veronica.

"Knock on woo-" she starts, as the TV and lights immediately switch off and they no longer hear the hum of the refrigerator.

They all three groan in unison. "It's going to get seriously cold in here," Wallace says, going to the linen closet and pulling out three comforters. He hands one to Veronica and one to Logan, who accepts his with a salute.

"We could play a drinking game," Logan says, nodding at the two bottles of whiskey atop the refrigerator.

"It is 10 in the morning!" Veronica says at the exact same moment that Wallace says, "You are not touching my dad's liquor."

Logan shrugs, his eyes sparkling a little at the rise he got from both of them. "Just an idea."

"I'm going to shower before there's no hot water left," Veronica announces. She has yet to look Logan in the eyes, and he is hyper-aware of that fact.

"Same some for me," Wallace calls after her as her form disappears around the hallway.

Logan and Wallace were once again alone, both staring at their bowls of cereal.


	5. Chapter 5

"So do you just have the one bathroom?" Logan asks as he hears the shower starting.

"You can't hold it five minutes?" Wallace replies.

Logan is silent for a beat. "Does Veronica ever talk about me?" If Wallace didn't know better, he'd think Logan was nervous about asking.

"What do you think this is, _Romy and Michele's High School Reunion_? You think we gossip about boys?" Wallace answers. For a second he sees pain flash across Logan's eyes. He feels bad about what he said. "She mentions you sometimes," he mutters, trying to right the wrong.

"Oh?" Logan asks, clearly expecting him to continue.

"Oh," Wallace answers. He isn't going to elaborate. He isn't going to betray Veronica's trust.

The shower turns off and a few minutes later, Veronica strolls out with wet hair and fresh clothes.

"I'm next!" Wallace proclaims, and sprints to the bathroom before Logan has a chance to ask if he could piss first. He stands up and strides over to Veronica casually. They hear the shower turn on, and he wraps his arms around her waist.

"Hey," he says, looking her in the eyes.

"Logan, last night was-"

"No, it wasn't," he answers, already knowing what she was going to say: a mistake, a one time thing, a fluke. He leans in to kiss her and in spite of herself, she kisses him back. His tongue slips into her mouth and he tries not to break the kiss to smile as he feels her shudder under his touch. He runs his fingers across her smooth cheek, then through her hair. He pulls it a little and hears her whimper. He finally breaks the kiss and looks her in the eye.

"I wasn't expecting things to go so well," he says, his hands have traveled to her back beneath her shirt. "I thought you'd yell at me and I'd spend the night at the Marriott by the lake. Not that I'd be able to get there in this weather."

"Shut up," she answers, amused. She rests her forehead on his shoulder, then kisses it.

"I don't think we have enough time for that, even if I do a quick version," he says.

"God, do you ever stop?"

"I'm in love with you, Veronica," he says as seriously as he can. He resists the urge to kiss her, thinking that the physicality might ruin the moment. But her lips meet his, and she begins to lead a passionate kiss, walking him backwards toward the couch. She pushes him down to sit and straddles him.

"I don't think I mind the power being out if we keep warm this way," he says, and immediately regrets opening his big mouth. To his surprise, she laughs and nibbles on his ear lobe.

They hear the shower turn off. Wallace immerges two minutes later, seeing Veronica reading a magazine with a suspicious tint to her cheeks, and Logan scrolling through his phone on the opposite side of the living room with a pillow over his lap.

Wallace raises an eyebrow, knowing exactly what had happened when he was in the shower. "V, can I talk to you?"

"Sure," she answers, too chipper.

"In private?" Wallace clarifies, walking to his bedroom.

She looks at Logan nervously and follows her best friend. He closes the door behind them and spins around. "I don't want to know what's going on," he starts, "but I thought you guys hated each other." It's more of a question than a statement.

"I...thought you didn't like to gossip about boys," she says, a little teasingly.

"Come on, V. Be serious."

"Okay, I don't know. There's a fine line between, uh, _like_ and hate."

"You love him," he corrects.

She hesitates, biting her lip hard. "Yeah," she says quietly, looking at her hands. She hates to admit it.

"Okay, then I'll try to like him, for you," he says. "But one slip-up and I'm kicking his ass into the snow. One tear from you, one shot of whiskey, he's gone."

"Deal," she says, smiling.


	6. Chapter 6

"Uno it is," Wallace said, following Veronica into the living room. The pillow was no longer on Logan's lap, and he came to sit in a circle with the two friends.

Wallace deals the cards, and Veronica grabs Logan's hand. He jerks away, looking at her questioningly. She persists, grabbing his hand again, and he relents, assuming the worst: Wallace knows what happened between them last night and the jig was up. She glances at her cards in her other hand, poker face on.

After three games of Veronica winning, Logan tries to peek at her cards. She pulls them away, smiling but not letting go of his hand.

"There's an element of chance in this game," he says, whining. "It's not all strategy. There's no way you keep winning."

They have only killed an hour and the noon sun brightens the room naturally. There were clouds on the horizon, though, making the prediction on the local news that morning likely correct; there's several inches to come.

Wallace's cell phone rings from his pocket. He sees his father's number on the caller ID and flips his phone open.

"Hey, Wallace, I'm at Mrs. Williams's house," says the voice on the other end.

"Yeah, Dad. What do you need? V and her friend are here," he answers.

"Mrs. Williams's driveway is a two-person job. I'm thankful that you live here, son, but you have to contribute to the community. Come and help your old man out. Ask your friends to come!"

Wallace rolls his eyes. "Give me a few minutes to put on your old snow pants, Old Man," he said, getting up and looking apologetically at Veronica. "I'll be there in ten minutes. I'm not gonna ask V to help, she works hard enough. Plus she's little, can you imagine her with a grown-up sized shovel? Ridiculous." Wallace smirks at Veronica, who is glaring at him in mock-indignation.

"And the strong kid I saw asleep in the living room today?"

"He's, uh," he walks into his room and closes the door. "He's never worked an honest day in his life. He surfs, that's all."

"Okay. Ten minutes?"

"Ten minutes," Wallace answers. He returns to the living room.

"What is it?" Veronica asks, her voice concerned.

"My dad needs help shoveling out an elderly neighbor," Wallace answers.

"Okay, let's go," says Logan.

"You're off the hook," says Wallace.

"I don't want to be," Logan replied. "I don't have a gym here," he begins, circling to the door so Wallace isn't facing him but Veronica is. "I need a physical outlet." He winks at Veronica.

"So, what, am I just supposed to stay here alone?" Veronica asks, indignant. "I want to come along."

"God, just stay with her," Wallace says to Logan. "Veronica didn't even bring any snowpants."

"Given that I live in Southern California, I didn't see the need to invest in pair," Veronica shoots back, pouting slightly.

"Dad is only expecting me, anyway," Wallace replies.

He doesn't wait for the other two to reply as he pulls on the snow pants and a pair of boots. "I'll see you guys in an hour." With that, Wallace opens the front door and slams it, heading out. As he walks down the driveway, he shakes his head. The sexual tension was making him uncomfortable, and giving them some time to be alone might alleviate that.


	7. Chapter 7

"All alone," Logan whispers into Veronica's ear. Her body reacts immediately, slickening at the mere vibration his voice created against her ear.

In spite of her body's reaction, she sighs. She pushes those feelings down as far as she can. She's very good at bottling things up. Her and Logan have that in common.

"Logan, we need to talk about this," she says, hating herself for being the person to say it.

"Okay," Logan says, taking a deep breath. He grasps both her hands and looks deep into her eyes. Despite his best efforts to look serious, his eyes betray his joviality. "Will you be my girlfriend?"

A chuckle catches in her throat. "You know that's not what I meant," she says, but he's already heard the quiet laugh she tried to suppress, and Veronica feels like she gave him the advantage. To her, everything is a battle, and this conversation is something she can somehow win.

"What about Kendall?" Veronica asks quietly. She anchors herself in the hatred she feels there; in the reasons why Logan is a bad idea.

"Who?" Logan answers, trying succinctly to let Veronica know that it's only her. He knows what's happening. She's looking for a fight, baiting him for it, even. But she was starting in the wrong place. Logan has always been good at compartmentalization. It was how he could take thirty lashes on the back and go to school the next day. It's how he can walk past Lilly Kane's memorial fountain every day without sinking into grief or how he drives over the Coronado Bridge without throwing up. And it was how he was able to keep himself busy with his best friend's stepmother, past tense, since he had ended it with her a few weeks ago. There was nothing intimate there. There was barely anything even interesting.

Logan is only ashamed of his actions when Veronica lays them out in front of him. He wonders if his addictive personality has taken up hurting and getting hurt as its new vice. He wonders if the damage he has sustained has lodged itself into his soul like a cancer, blackening his heart slowly over time. He dismisses the thought immediately, Veronica has been through just as much and she hasn't turned into a monster. _Monster_, the word repeats in his head. He hadn't let himself think about his actions in that way. His thoughts are interrupted by a thumb wiping something from his cheek. His tears. He looks as surprised as she does at his emotions.

"Logan," she says, her voice so tender that he immediately feels guilty. If there's something Veronica is drawn to, it's the wounded. He could never have engineered an easier way to get her to forgive him if he had planned for 200 years, and here he is, on the precipice of forgiveness. He takes inventory of his self-control. She is offering him absolution, until he fucks up again, and he wants to dive into it. He wants to feel good and whole for the couple of weeks that he will. Until he resents her for being better than him, and she nags him to be better, and he realizes he doesn't deserve her and gives her excuses to leave, and she leaves because he did everything but beg her to do it, and she's strong enough to leave him a thousand times over, and then he gets to sink back down into his self-destruction and hurt, because he likes the hurt. He likes to hurt, and he likes getting hurt. He'll do something worse than before, something more selfish and unforgivable. And then he'll see her somewhere in Neptune, and he won't like the hurt anymore. He'll beg for her to come back. Some grand romantic gesture or drunken, love-soaked speech. And he knows her like he knows the back of his hand. She's going to end the cycle at some point. He's only got so many chances at this. She's smarter than him, stronger than him, and better, _better, better_ than him, and she's bigger than Neptune. She doesn't have to stick around for anyone after high school, least of all him.

Compartmentalization. He looks up at the ceiling, focusing on a crack in the moulding. His tears dry. He swallows and clears his throat. He won't let his voice crack.

"I don't know how to be better," he says, his voice low. "But I don't care about trying to be better unless you're in the picture. You make me want to be better, Veronica Mars."


	8. Chapter 8

"I don't know how to be better," he says, his voice low. "But I don't care about trying to be better unless you're in the picture. You make me want to be better, Veronica Mars."

Something comes over her and lunges at him. She settles into his lap, sinking into an emotional kiss. He smells like her, like himself, and like a 4-hour flight. She breathes it in, kind of liking the two days of sweat he had accumulated. There's something soft and soulful about the way her lips move against his. It's painfully slow but she grows hungrier and more desperate as the kiss wears on.

His hands move under her sweatshirt, stroking the small of her back. His fingers circle over her dimples of Venus, then travel further up her back. He pulls away, smirking. She wasn't wearing a bra.

"Decided it was a good day to go natural?" Logan asks.

"I'm not leaving the house, who am I trying to impress?" Veronica shoots back. His hand slides around to the front and cups her breast. She breath is increasingly irregular as his thumb brushes over her nipple. He looks up at her, making sure this is okay. Never pushing her boundaries, trying to never pressure her into anything. She reaches behind him and pulls his shirt off, then her own.

They are bare-chested against one another and he begins to kiss her again. He slips his fingers under the waistband of her pants, but doesn't pursue anything further as his tongue makes circles in her mouth. She can feel his erection through their clothes jabbing into her thigh and knows that they both want more. She breaks the kiss to stand up and step out of her sweatpants. She pulls him up to stand in front of her and unbuttons his pants, making him step out of them. She pulls down his boxers, his manhood springing out. She'd seen it a few times last summer, and last night. The size still surprises her. He pulls down her panties and she steps out of them.

"What do you want?" Logan asks, his voice low and serious.

"You," she answers.

"Do you mean it?" Logan looks into her eyes.

She had expected herself to have had sex with him that summer. She had even gotten on the pill and never went off of it when they'd broken up. She couldn't help herself and had looked into his medical records, too, when they'd been dating. No sexually transmitted infections, and he got tested every six months. She'd been pleased at the time to know that he was responsible in at least one area of his life.

"Yes," she says, grabbing his arm and guiding it down to her sex. His thumb circles her most sensitive part, and he let his middle finger enter her and press on the opposite side of her clit. She groans, thrusting up. She'd been wet since they first started kissing. She pulls his finger out and guides them to the couch. His body is on top of hers, his arms propped up so he doesn't put any weight on her.

"I don't have any protection," he says. "I can look in the bathroom…"

His erection is right by her hips, and she quickly guided him in before he knew what was happening. The sensation is enough make her roll her eyes into the back of her head.

"Fuck, Veronica, you feel so good," he says, before regaining his composure and pulling out. "I need a condom."

"You really don't," she says, chuckling a little. "I've been on the pill since June."

He looks at her, his hips right over hers. He thrust in, and she let out a small yelp. She reaches her had down to touch her clitoris, something she's done only alone and in the dark. He stops, pulling out.

"Show me how you like it, then," he says, his voice low.

"What?"

"You started touching yourself. Show me how you like it, so you don't have to."

Veronica looks up at him, a little intimidated. Wasn't he satisfied enough to be taking her virginity? Why did he need such intimate instructions?

"You already know how I like it," she answers seriously and quietly.

Her sincerity makes him laugh. Veronica blanches but begins laughing too in spite of herself. The absurdity of the situation dawns on her. She's losing her virginity in Wallace's dad's living room in Chicago to her ex-boyfriend. Half the reason she'd flown to Chicago in the first place was to avoid seeing Logan!

"Shh, shh, this is very serious business," Logan says into her neck. They both break into hysterics at this. He's gone soft with the swift mood change. Once they settle down, he kisses her neck again and lets his mouth travel up to nibble on her earlobe. He lets his hand caress her inner thigh. In less than a minute, he'd ready and thrusts back into her. He's agonizingly gentle at first, so much so that Veronica grows impatient and bucks her hips up, looking frustrated.

He raises an eyebrow at her, and begins to fuck her earnest. She gasps and bites his shoulder. Pleased with this reaction, he picks up the pace even more, his pelvis grinding against her clitoris. She snakes her hand back down to touch herself again, and after a few seconds, she sees stars. She spasms under Logan, and once the waves of pleasure ebb away, her throat hurts.

"Was I just screaming?" Veronica asks, hoarsely.

"Yes, you were," he answered, a little too pleased with himself.

"Did you…?"

"Finish? Yeah. I told you I did, but you seemed too distracted to hear me."

"Like your ego needed a boost," she says, rolling her eyes, but her breathiness betrays her.

"Look at you, you're even mean during pillow talk," Logan says lovingly.

"How long do we have before Wallace comes back?" Veronica asks. He kisses her temple and slowly removes himself from her with a groan. She looks up at his questioningly.

"Sensitive," he explains, then glances at his watch. "Half an hour."


	9. Chapter 9

Logan glances at his watch. "Half an hour."

"That gives us twenty-nine minutes to cuddle and one minute to freak out and put our clothes on," Veronica jokes.

"Counterpoint," he says, "We go again." He waggles his eyebrows at her, smiling.

Her hips are aching and she can feel a slight rawness inside of her. There is no way she can do a second round.

"Ah, the famous Echolls endurance," she laughs.

"Does it live up to your expectations? To the rumors?"

"I don't have much to compare it to," she says, her right arm reaching out and blindly trying to find her shirt on the floor while her left arm wrapped around Logan's torso. Logan watches her, not helping. After a few seconds, she gives up and looks back up at him. His gaze is so warm it could melt ice.

"You look beautiful," he says.

"You already got what you want, you don't have to flatter me," she says lightly.

His eyes darken. "You ought to know that I didn't come here to fuck." He looks hurt, but he kisses her lips chastely. He almost adds that he could have easily stayed right the hell in Neptune and gotten laid with far less effort, but thinks better of it.

"Is that what we did?" Veronica asks.

He wants her to be serious, but realizes that perhaps her levity is a good thing. She's not mad at him, after all.

"What, are we the couple that makes love?" Logan asks, smiling, knowing how much she'd hate the euphemism.

But she latches on to the wrong thing. "Couple?"

"It takes two to tango, Ronnie, and last I checked that's 'a couple,'" he answers, kicking himself for returning to the old banter. He wanted so badly to have an honest conversation and when he got the chance, he'd literally started crying and then fucked her brains out when he was able to do so. _Fuck, I'm such a mess, _he thinks. But Veronica is always ready with a retort.

"You _know_ there's different connotations," she says, struggling to come out from under him. He sits up and gives her the sweatshirt he'd had had his eyes on earlier but didn't help her find.

"Then let's make it official. Will you be my girlfriend?" Logan asks as tenderly as he can.

Veronica is about to answer when she hears her phone across the room. She pulls on the sweatshirt and crosses the room bottomless. She frowns at the caller ID and flips the phone open.

"You've got Veronica," she says, her voice too formal. Logan frowns at this. "Yes, he's here. Do you want to speak to him?" Veronica pauses then closes her phone.

"Who was it?" Logan asks, already suspecting the answer.

"Your roommate wanted to know if I'd been able to get a hold of you," she responded.

"And?" Logan prompted, smiling at the fact that she referred to Duncan as his roommate rather than by name.

"You heard my half of the conversation," she said. After a beat, she adds, "If you could call it a conversation."

"Did he sound mad?" Logan asks, a little too curious. There was that addiction to hurting. He knew Duncan wanted Veronica back, and he took a deep, perverse pleasure in knowing that no one made Veronica quake the way he did. Especially not Duncan. As if to answer his question, Logan's phone buzzes with a text. It's true, Duncan had called him a few times in the past few days, and he hadn't answered. And he hadn't told anyone where he was going.

"Hey, what the fuck?" Duncan's text reads.

"Hey, yourself," Logan texts back, a smirk on his face. He immediately regrets it when his phone begins to ring, with Duncan on the caller ID.

Just as chipper as Veronica answered the phone a moment earlier, Logan flips his phone open. "You've got Logan." He even mirrors her inflection.

"You're in _Chicago_?" Duncan's voice says from the other end. "With Veronica?"

"Yes, she's here. Do you want to speak to her?" Logan asks, parroting what Veronica had just said to him. Veronica's mouth drops open, but she finds herself laughing regardless.

"Logan, I'm going through a lot right now and I'd really appreciate it if you could shoot straight with me," Duncan says. He sounds practiced, like he's rehearsed this interaction in the mirror.

Logan made a tsk-ing sound. "Going through a lot, huh? Me, too. But you aren't one to help, are you?"

"What am I one to do, Logan?" Duncan asks.

"You stand idly by," answers Logan, and suddenly Veronica is on top of him, the phone all but forgotten. She giggles and kisses him deeply and he breaks the kiss to pick up the phone. "Busy. Bye."

Duncan is sitting in his suite at the Neptune Grande. He thought he'd heard his ex's mouth react to Logan's words, but decides that it was just his imagination.


	10. Chapter 10

Veronica kisses Logan for what he said. She said the same thing a year ago. She kisses him as hard as she can.

"Ask me again," she says, her voice small.

"Ask you what?" Logan responds.

"What question have you been asking since you got here?"

"'Are you sure?'" Logan says, knowing exactly what Veronica wants him to ask. She punches his shoulder and he laughs. He lets her suffer less than thirty seconds before asking.

"Will you be my girlfriend?"

"I'll think about it," she replies.

He expected such, and tickles her. "Oh, yeah?"

Laughing, she relents. "Yes, I will! Stop! I will!"

She stands up, pulling on her panties and sweatpants and offering him a hand.

"You should probably shower," she says.

"And lose the smell of my beloved?" Logan answers, kissing her. Still, there's only about four minutes of hot water left, and he knew when to take an opportunity. "Care to join me?"

"You wish," Veronica answers, but follows him to the bathroom regardless. He turns the shower on and she steps in behind him, her clothes discarded on the bathroom floor.

"Welcome to my office," he says, grinning at her. She maneuvers around him, rinses off her lower torso, and steps out of the shower.

"Your office, you say?" Veronica asks, pulling the shower curtain back quietly to see Logan shampooing his hair. She kneels there for a moment, watching him in appreciation. Veronica stands and leans in, putting her hand out. She touches his skin to scare him and he yelps.

"Very funny," he says as he shuts off the shower. Veronica yelps and quickly puts on her clothes.


End file.
